Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-07-28
A DISCOVERY LOST.


everSng, provided had no previous engage
ment. and give him my opinion upon ths
beauty Of piece of japanese porcelain ware
which he had recently bought, and of which
he was extremely proud. Mr.. Butler is a lit
ne less than forty years of age, has wide
experience with the world. For ten yea 5 he
lived in Japan and China. after he h.ll re-
| signed a leutenancy in the navy, and is tho1t
oughly proficient in the history, traditions
| and written languages Of both nations
The plate which was summoned to exam.
inc and criticise was of Hizen ware, which is
| among the Oldest of Japanese porcelains Ii
was larger by one-half than the usual porce-
1Ain plaque. The face of the plate was in
describably rich in color. The background
was dark green, over which there were in
raised enamel Of purple and gold. figures OF
beautiful birds, whose gorgeous plumage We'd
with nues Of the rainbow in brilliancy. The
reverse side OF the plate was dingy brown in
color and notified with age.
'This," said my friend after had expressed
my opinion of the beauty Of his purchase, lis
one OF the rarest specimens of porcelain |
have ever seen. have seen but three pieces
in Japan any older. bought it from an ig-
norant dealer who got it from sailor and
parted with it for sum so pitifully small
that my conscience reproached me for accept
ing his offer, and l should have doubled his
price if l could have done SO without exciting
his cupidity to such an extent that l would
have been utterly unable to purchase it at
any figure. 1t is my opinion that it was
made at least three centuries ago, somewhere
about the time Of TailSo Sama, as Hideyoshi
the great japanese statesman and warrior
was commonly called by his subjects. Dur
ing his sway the art of making porcelain rose
to high state of perfection, which soon after
his death fell into state of desuetude and
was revived a century later. In the island
of Kinshin this art took its origin, and at Hi
zen this plate was made. The peculiar style
Of tracery on the face proves it to have been
manufactured there. In those early days
porcelains were decorated with painful care,
and often an artist would only live to fashion
two or three designs, as the monks of the
dark ages Illuminated the pages of their
Bibles. You will notice the patience Of the
artist who painted this plate. The drawing
of these birds and the blending of the colors
could not have taken him less than years Of
patient toll"
While Mr.. Butler was talking be leaned the
plate against the globe of his students lamp
SO that we might the better observe its
beauty. After discoursing for some time
upon the manufacture of early porcelain-a
subject i'll which he was deeply interested
he reached for the plate to examine it more
carefully, but finding that it had become I'M
comfortably hot from its contact with the
lamp be laid it face downward Oh the table to
cool 1t had not been in that position many
caonpIc haSora 70 both noticed in
its appearance The dingy brown surface of
the bottom of the plate had become clearer
and lighter in color, but what astonished US
far more was the appearance of certain indis-
tinct characters which were rapidly fading
away as the plate cooled. As nearly as we
could judge from our hasty inspection we
thought these characters bore some resem-
blance to japanese letters Something very
Singular about this" observed my friend.
very remarkable indeed As the plate cools
these letters, if letters they be, seem to fade
away. Suppose" he added after short
pause, suppose we heat the plate again and
zee if we can learn what they really are"
One of Mr.. Buffers apartments is elabo-
rately fitted up as chemical laboratory. In
A corner of the room there is small furnace
1t was the work of few moments only to
put some charcoal into this and start fire
As soon as this was done, the plate, face
iownwards, was carefully laid over the top
IF this furnace, and we leaned over it anx-
olsly awaiting the result. In less than five
minutes the brown color had entirely dis
appeared and the characters began to show
themselves as before. As the heat increased
he background of the plate grew clearer
until at length it was pure white. Mean
while the characters became more and more
distinct, until finally they were as plainly
visible as the day they were first Transcribed.
They were indeed japanese letters traced in
many lines of blue and circling the plate like
The signatures to round robin An the
available space on the plate was thus filed.
To say that was amazed at this metamor-
phosis would express my feelings feebly.
Butler, more calm, was pale with excitement
Take a sheet OF paper" said be; sit down
ut that desk and will translate this for you
10 write down. 1t is in the classic, or written
language of the japanese, and | can read it
readily"
l sat down as I was bidGen, and he pro-
ceeded to roughly translate from this
strangely discovered scroll, while faithfully
yet down his words. This is the story the
plate told, precisely as it was given TO me
that night and copied verbatim from the
notes | made, which are now lying before me
on my desk:
l am Tikipoto, the son of the Iveyasu, once
the chief man in the town of Saga, and this
history is written so that my children and
my great grandchildren may read and know
Of my great discovery. When my father
reached the middle age of life the great Hide
inn, INFO. %, IL
away with a million other soldiers to conquer
the great empire across the sea. This is evil
iently mistake, for the writer must allude
to the invasion by China which took place in
1893. There were only LOO, 900 soldiers in the
Japanese army, according to history.-B. NJ
He never came back. My elder brother took |
my parents place, and was sent out into the
world TO make my own living. Think you
hat easy, my children' l may tell you it |
was not I had had my slaves and knew |
little about the means Of making money. |
had spent my life in studies and in my pot |
.ery. / was deep scholar In the art of max |
ng earthen wares-not the crude and pur-
ooselesS article which are now so common, |
but something greater and far mors |
When l found myself de- |
1rived of my fortune I turned 70 my work |
With renewed interest. That was my sole OBJ |
Jet III life. II my studies should be successful /
would win both fame and wealth; il not, |
,ould die. VINO could do raorei | had pom |
Tered deeply over the mystery of colofs, their |
dmixtures and their properties In these
tudies l have discovered a new paint That |
his discovery Will produce change in the !
TT of decorating earthenwsre there can be
10 doubt. for by means of it can reproduce |